How to Make People Follow You
The mass market. Pop culture. Mainstream demographics. These terms do not have the same meanings as they once did, and it’s even debatable whether they’re even relevant anymore. Now more than ever before, people are independent thinkers. Blame the Information Age. Blame the Long Tail. Blame Apple for telling us to “Think Different©.”
People will not be lemmings anymore that will blindly follow an arbitrary direction from an authority figure. They will instead follow a cause, a vision, a dream that speaks to them. So you want people to follow you? Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way anymore. So you want to share a new dream, a new vision of a better world for others to pursue with you? OK, now you’re talking.
Once you have the vision, you have the most important ingredient of a transformational change. However, an idea with no action is in reality, nothing. As Gandhi has said, “We must become the change we want to see.” To spread this vision and share it with others, you will have to be a leader. Not necessarily a manager - someone that tells people what to do, but a leader - someone that inspires people to do what they do.
The Traits of Leadership
A manager that has the ability to inspire is a leader manager. According to John C. Maxwell, the author of The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, there are five characteristics of a leader manager:
- They are long-term thinkers that think beyond the immediate or short-term goals.
- Their interests are not just within their own group. They also want to know how their group affects others within the bigger organization, and they constantly reach beyond their specific areas of influence.
- They put heavy emphasis on vision, values, and motivation.
- They have strong political skills to handle conflicting needs from various parties.
- They don’t accept the status quo.
In Transforming Leadership by Pulitzer Prize winner James MacGregor Burns, the truly transformational leaders do not impose their own will, but instead embrace a universal truth greater than them which others can also embrace, and he uses historical examples such as Aristotle, Elizabeth I, George Washington, and Gandhi. The review from the New York Times summarized it best: “Mr. Burns calls the reader’s attention to a paradox at the heart of all leadership: that the best leaders often follow an agenda set by their followers… this insight leads to the broad declaration that ‘all leadership is collective.’”
If you are in a position where you manage people, simply telling them what to do is the easiest way to get things done. However, if you are leading a team with a goal or a mission that needs to succeed, you must not just manage them, but you will also need to lead them, to inspire them, if you want to make that transformational change.
Further Readings
The following are additional articles on leadership:
- The Qualities of a True Leader - The Synergy Institute
- The seven secrets to vision - Slow Leadership
- What Makes the Difference in Visionary Leadership? - Brain Based Biz
- Right Direction - Slow Leadership
Unfortunately, I would argue people are more the leadable lemmings now than ever before. There are growing numbers of people who make real, informed, and independent choices, true.
But there is an even faster growing number of people who -want- to be independent, and do so by going along with whatever subdivision of popular phenomenon seems most trendy.
On the one hand, people can manage and lead by example. On the other hand, corperations can carress people into acting as they wish by appealing to their sense of individualism.
Ricky Willems
http://rickywillems.myrpi.org
Hi Ricky,
I agree with you to a point. Because of the information overload in today’s world, people tend to take in processed information rather than take the effort to do fact-findings and arrive at their own conclusion. It’s efficient when the information source is reliable, but since there’s the human element every time when making digestable information (such as in newspapers and blogs), it’s unavoidable to be 100% bias-free.
I think the point you were trying to make was with people who want to be a part of the counter-culture, but ironically fall into the trap of conforming by agreeing the trendy leaders in their subgroup. Although they may show the lemming-like tendencies, if the leaders in their subgroup loses credibility, they would abandon that leader in a heartbeat (assuming they didn’t get fully consumed by the kool-aid and become apologists for the discredited leader).
I think you right, People will not be lemmings anymore that will blindly follow an arbitrary direction from an authority figure. nice article, simple and easy to understand. thanks for share I need it
you are very right,when people dont know what to do they start misbehaving
The mass of the peoples are still beahaving like lemmings, when people start thinking about the effects to others of what they do, they start behaving like human beings
I disagree, people are probably more lemmings today than ever, example the Yugoslavian war, the 2 iraq wars, George W. Bush elected twice and the list could go on and on. The reason is because the public schools are getting worse instead of better and there by they are pushing people out of school to make room not because they received an education. More and More prople are influenced and educated by television instead of picking up a book, so they are easier to control.
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Keep an open mind, learn from those you lead. Take advantage of employee surveys. Never think you “know it all”, there is always something new. Speak of anyone as if they were present. A true leader realizes that they can only lead if they have faithful followers.
Hey! I was reading about this earlier today on PopCultNews.com, they had some interesting stuff to say about it.
that was cool. nice thing that I stumbled upon this one. will come back for other articles. thanks!
Really nice content. Thanks for your ideas.
having a vision is an essential component in the success of ones leadership reign. iI really agree with u that today people require reasons and cause in order to stand behind your back.
having a vision is an essential component in the success of ones leadership reign. I really agree with u that today people require reasons and cause in order to stand behind your back.
Its nice to see real people sharing ways to their experiences online. Honestlys its blogs like these that have helped me reach were I am today. Thanks for sharing this with us
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i think these days manipulation is the answer!
I love to see positive people helping other people realize the power positive thinking has on the world as a whole.